Understanding the evolution of societal value on water resources in Australia during 1843-2011

© 2016 Dr. Jing WeiHuman appropriation of water resources and modification of landscapes exerts an increasing negative influence on water-cycle dynamics and catchment ecosystems, from local to global scales and from decadal to century timescales. The pressure on freshwater resources around the world caused by the human activities, both now and into the future, requires a radical paradigm shift in approaches to water resources management. Societal value has been frequently invoked in discussion of environmental problems. Societal values – a set of common values, beliefs and attitudes shared by the majority of a regional population – represent the core societal practice within a region. Changes in values are seen as leading to changes in decisions, and thus to changes in behavior. Those social scientists concerned with human impacts on the environment have often suggested that changes in values that are more protective of the environment will lead to behaviors and policies for more sustainable resource management. However, societal values have not been addressed adequately in current water management studies. The significant modification of the water cycle by human activity has primarily been treated as an external perturbation to such natural systems. The main objective of this study was to develop an understanding of the evolution of the societal value of water resources in Australia through content analysis of the newspaper over a long timeframe. In order to achieve this objective: First, to represent the societal value of water in Australia over 169 years, sampling strategy was developed by comparison of two main sampling methods: constructed week sampling and consecutive week sampling. The comparison was conducted using a non-parametric statistical model to compare these two methods in terms of both basic information (article location on newspaper, number of articles, article length, and article type) and content information (article theme, article tone, stakeholders, etc.) Second, a description of the evolution of societal value of water resources was developed by content analysis of the newspaper coverage of water issues in Australia. This objective was achieved using articles reported on The Sydney Morning Herald during 1843-2011. More specifically, it included description of what was reported about water issues in Australia in three main categories: basic information (number of articles, article position in newspaper, length of articles); themes, geographic locations and water bodies involved in newspaper coverage; and portrait of newspaper coverage on participants, their perspectives on certain water policies or management initiatives and the situation in which they interact. Third, building upon the previous results, the evolution of societal value was measured quantitatively using a mathematical regression approach, transition theory was adopted to understand the evolution process, and the stages of transition of the societal value were determined using first and second derivatives of the regression curves. Finally, a co-evolved social-ecological framework was used to identify critical dynamics between social value and other components of a water social–ecological system. The co-evolutionary processes of societal value of water resources and other catchment components since 1900 were reconstructed by classifying them into distinct phases and systematically analyzing social and natural events, and their interactions. Findings obtained from the first objective included that: descriptive analysis revealed that constructed week sampling and consecutive week sampling generated similar results in terms of frequency of reporting of basic news variables: number of articles, article type, and article length. Statistical analysis results indicated that, except for a few of slight differences (3/20 variables), there were no significant differences between these two sampling methods. As both selection of objects for attention and selection of perspectives for picturing those objects are important in determining the media agenda, the results suggested that the sampling strategy in this research should comprise one constructed week and one consecutive week per half year to yield a better representation of the population data. Findings obtained from the second objective include the following. First, water articles were not prominently positioned in newspaper with only 5% of the articles here were on the front page. The low number of articles as "letters to the editors" suggested that the public voice was hidden or the public had a relatively low interest in water issues. Although the stress on freshwater resources in Australia has been rising in recent decades, the frequency of coverage of the public voice did not show an increasing trend. Second, the newspaper overwhelmingly reflected government and government authority views on water. Research institutes and NGOs, were rarely mentioned. Third, the longitudinal analysis of the major variables discussed above gave a very clear picture that major government reforms and major natural events together influenced changes in these variables. Natural disasters are the constant theme of Australian's weather episodes, they are also critical elements which influence public opinion and attitudes to water issues and are associated with the significant policy and institutional changes. Findings obtained from the third objective include: the transition pattern of societal value evolution confirming that societal transition is a non-linear process. It follows the typical sigmoid-shape curve of change. Three stages of transition of the societal values of water resources were identified. They are pre-development (before 1962), take-off (1963-1980), and acceleration (1981–2011). Change from a society value of economic development to environmental sustainability was a very slow process, taking more than 100 years. This transition did not happen until there was clear evidence of water scarcity and water system degradation resulting from intensive economic development. The response of government policy lagged well behind changes in the societal values, and, unsurprisingly, environmental actions more rapidly followed the policy initiatives. This study has improved the knowledge of coupled human-water systems by addressing a key aspect of socio-hydrology, the societal challenges. More specifically, this study made an attempt in quantifying and understanding the human dimension with timescale of centuries in numerical data and descriptive histories. It also provide an practical approach to essentially understanding the fundamentals of the socio-hydrologic system, which could be developed to formalized equations and generalized models providing sufficient understanding of the human-water system that is applicable to other river basin areas. Results from this study can assist water managers and policy makers to identify management practices that require improvement by understanding how today’s conditions and problems were created over time. Several lessons can be learned for Australian water management from this study. Firstly, there is a need for deeper, consistent, and systematic reporting on water issues rather than at sporadic intervals to ensure a high level of public environmental concerns of how water issues may impact the quality of their life and the environment where they live, which ultimately leading to societal value change towards sustainability. Secondly, there is a need to improve academic specialist and NGO voices in newspaper to significantly improve dissemination of evidenced-based research findings on water sustainability issues in order to create a better informed public and to stimulate behaviour towards sustainable water management. Thirdly, extreme/unusual natural events are seen as an important “opportunity” for influencing public opinion about water and sustainable water management.